Adipose tissue is a critical energy reservoir in animals and humans, with multifaceted roles in endocrine regulation, immune response, and providing mechanical protection. Based on anatomical location and functional characteristics, adipose tissue can be categorized into distinct types, including white adipose tissue (WAT), brown adipose tissue (BAT), beige adipose tissue, and pink adipose tissue. Traditionally, adipose tissue research has centered on its morphological and functional properties as a whole. However, with the advent of single-cell transcriptomics, a new level of complexity in adipose tissue has been unveiled, showing that even under identical conditions, cells of the same type may exhibit significant variation in morphology, structure, function, and gene expression——phenomena collectively referred to as cellular heterogeneity. Single-cell transcriptomics, including techniques like single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq), enables in-depth analysis of the diversity and heterogeneity of adipocytes at the single-cell level. This high-resolution approach has not only deepened our understanding of adipocyte functionality but also facilitated the discovery of previously unidentified cell types and gene expression patterns that may play key roles in adipose tissue function. This review delves into the latest advances in the application of single-cell transcriptomics in elucidating the heterogeneity and diversity within adipose tissue, highlighting how these findings have redefined the understanding of cell subpopulations within different adipose depots. Moreover, the review explores how single-cell transcriptomic technologies have enabled the study of cellular communication pathways and differentiation trajectories among adipose cell subgroups. By mapping these interactions and differentiation processes, researchers gain insights into how distinct cellular subpopulations coordinate within adipose tissues, which is crucial for maintaining tissue homeostasis and function. Understanding these mechanisms is essential, as dysregulation in adipose cell interactions and differentiation underlies a range of metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes mellitus type 2. Furthermore, single-cell transcriptomics holds promising implications for identifying therapeutic targets; by pinpointing specific cell types and gene pathways involved in adipose tissue dysfunction, these technologies pave the way for developing targeted interventions aimed at modulating specific adipose subpopulations. In summary, this review provides a comprehensive analysis of the role of single-cell transcriptomic technologies in uncovering the heterogeneity and functional diversity of adipose tissues.

This study investigates the reproductive protective effect and potential mechanism of Cistanches Herba extract(CHE) on a rat model of kidney-Yang deficiency induced by adenine. Rats were randomly divided into five groups: normal, model, low-dose CHE(0.6 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), high-dose CHE(1.2 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), and L-carnitine(100 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)). The rats were administered adenine(200 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) by gavage for the first 14 days to induce kidney-Yang deficiency, while simultaneously receiving drug treatment. After 14 days, the modeling was discontinued, but drug treatment continued to 49 days. The content of components in CHE was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The adenine-induced kidney-Yang deficiency model was assessed through symptom characterization and measurement of testosterone(T) levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Pathological damage to the testis and epididymis was evaluated based on the wet weight and performing hematoxylin-eosin staining. Sperm density and motility were measured using computer-aided sperm analysis, and sperm viability was assessed using live/dead sperm staining kits, and sperm morphology was evaluated using eosin staining, thereby determining rat sperm quality. Metabolomics was used to analyze changes in serum metabolites, enrich related metabolic pathways, and explore the mechanism of CHE in improving reproductive function damage in rats with kidney-Yang deficiency syndrome. Compared to the normal group, the model group exhibited significant kidney-Yang deficiency symptoms, reduced T levels, decreased testicular and epididymal wet weights, and significant pathological damage to the testis and epididymis. The sperm density, motility, and viability decreased, with an increased rate of sperm abnormalities. In contrast, rats treated with CHE showed marked improvements in kidney-Yang deficiency symptoms, restored T levels, alleviated pathological damage to the testis and epididymis, and improved various sperm parameters. Metabolomics results revealed 286 differential metabolites between the normal and model groups(191 upregulated and 95 downregulated). Seventy-five differential metabolites were identified between the model and low-dose CHE groups(21 upregulated and 54 downregulated). A total of 24 common differential metabolites were identified across the three groups, with 22 of these metabolites exhibiting opposite regulation trends between the two comparison groups. These metabolites were primarily involved in linoleic acid metabolism, ether lipid metabolism, and pantothenic acid and coenzyme A biosynthesis, as well as metabolites including 13-hydroperoxylinoleic acid, lysophosphatidylcholine, and pantethine. CHE can improve kidney-Yang deficiency symptoms in rats, alleviate reproductive organ damage, and enhance sperm quality. The regulation of lipid metabolism may be a potential mechanism through which CHE improves reproductive function in rats with kidney-Yang deficiency. The potential bioactive compounds of CHE include echinacoside, verbascoside, salidroside, betaine, and cistanoside A.
Animals ; Male ; Rats ; Yang Deficiency/physiopathology* ; Metabolomics ; Kidney/physiopathology* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Cistanche/chemistry* ; Kidney Diseases/metabolism* ; Testis/metabolism* ; Humans ; Reproduction/drug effects* ; Testosterone/blood*

OBJECTIVES: To explore the lipidomic characteristics of children with bronchial asthma (hereafter referred to as asthma) and identify potential biomarkers for asthma. METHODS: A total of 26 asthmatic children were prospectively enrolled as the asthma group, and 20 healthy children served as the healthy control group. The asthma group was further divided into atopic (n=13) and non-atopic (n=13) subgroups based on IgE levels. Serum lipid metabolites were analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, followed by statistical analysis and data visualization. RESULTS: A total of 1 435 lipids were detected in the 46 children, primarily glycerophospholipids (625/1 435, 43.55%). Significant differences were observed in serum lipid profiles between the asthma and control groups. Twelve significantly differential lipids were identified, with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showing that phosphatidylserine (PS)(18:0/20:4) and ceramide (Cer)(c16:0) exhibited the highest diagnostic value for asthma. The relative abundances of PS(18:0/20:4) and PS(18:0/22:6) were higher in the atopic subgroup than in the non-atopic subgroup (P<0.05) and positively correlated with total IgE levels in asthmatic children (r=0.675 and 0.740, respectively; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Asthmatic children exhibit significant lipid metabolic disturbances, primarily characterized by abnormal glycerophospholipid metabolism. Among these, PS(18:0/20:4) and Cer(c16:0) demonstrate specific alterations and may serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers for asthma. Furthermore, the positive correlation between PS(18:0/20:4) and PS(18:0/22:6) levels and serum total IgE suggests their possible involvement in immune regulation in asthma.
Humans ; Asthma/metabolism* ; Male ; Child ; Female ; Prospective Studies ; Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Lipids/blood* ; Chromatography, Liquid/methods* ; Child, Preschool ; Immunoglobulin E/blood* ; Biomarkers/blood* ; Adolescent ; Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the genetic causal relationship of leukocyte telomere length (LTL) with prostatitis, orchitis and epididymitis by two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR). METHODS: Using LTL as the exposure factor and prostatitis, orchitis and epididymitis as outcome factors, we mined the Database of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Then, we analyzed the causal relationship of LTL with prostatitis, orchitis and epididymitis by Mendelian randomization using inverse variance weighting (IVW) as the main method and weighted median and MR-Egger regression as auxiliary methods, determined the horizontal multiplicity by MR-Egger intercept test, and conducted sensitivity analysis using the leaving-one-out method. RESULTS: A total of 121 related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in this study. IVW showed LTL to be a risk factor for prostatitis (OR = 1.383, 95% CI: 1.044－1.832, P = 0.024), and for orchitis and epididymitis as well (OR = 1.770, 95% CI: 1.275－2.456, P = 0.000 6). CONCLUSION Genetic evidence from Mendelian randomized analysis indicates that shortening of LTL reduces the risk of prostatitis, orchitis and epididymitis.
Humans ; Male ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Epididymitis/genetics* ; Prostatitis/genetics* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Leukocytes ; Orchitis/genetics* ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Telomere ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To explore and quantify the association of hot night exposure during the sperm development period (0-90 lag days) with semen quality. METHODS: A total of 6,640 male sperm donors from 6 human sperm banks in China during 2014-2020 were recruited in this multicenter study. Two indices (i.e., hot night excess [HNE] and hot night duration [HND]) were used to estimate the heat intensity and duration during nighttime. Linear mixed models were used to examine the association between hot nights and semen quality parameters. RESULTS: The exposure-response relationship revealed that HNE and HND during 0-90 days before semen collection had a significantly inverse association with sperm motility. Specifically, a 1 °C increase in HNE was associated with decreased sperm progressive motility of 0.0090 (95% confidence interval [ CI]: -0.0147, -0.0033) and decreased total motility of 0.0094 (95% CI: -0.0160, -0.0029). HND was significantly associated with reduced sperm progressive motility and total motility of 0.0021 (95% CI: -0.0040, -0.0003) and 0.0023 (95% CI: -0.0043, -0.0002), respectively. Consistent results were observed at different temperature thresholds on hot nights. CONCLUSION Our findings highlight the need to mitigate nocturnal heat exposure during spermatogenesis to maintain optimal semen quality.
Humans ; Male ; Semen Analysis ; Adult ; Sperm Motility ; Hot Temperature/adverse effects* ; China ; Middle Aged ; Spermatozoa/physiology* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the impact of foam macrophages (FMs) on the intracellular survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and identify the molecular mechanisms influencing MTB survival. METHODS: An in vitro FM model was established using oleic acid induction. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were conducted to identify the key molecular pathways involved in FM-mediated MTB survival. RESULTS: Induced FMs effectively restricted MTB survival. Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling revealed distinct changes in gene and metabolite expression in FMs during MTB infection compared with normal macrophages. Integrated analyses identified significant alterations in the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling pathway, indicating that its activation contributes to the FM-mediated restriction of MTB survival. CONCLUSIONS FMs inhibit MTB survival. The cAMP signaling pathway is a key contributor. These findings enhance the understanding of the role of FMs in tuberculosis progression, suggest potential targets for host-directed therapies, and offer new directions for developing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies against tuberculosis.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis/physiology* ; Transcriptome ; Metabolomics ; Foam Cells/microbiology* ; Humans ; Metabolome ; Tuberculosis/microbiology* ; Gene Expression Profiling

Objective:To construct the quality evaluation scale of specification of management for humanistic caring in outpatients and test its reliability and validity.Methods:Referring to the group standards in Specification of Management for Humanistic Caring in Outpatients released by the China Association for Life Care,as well as relevant guidelines and literature,a pool of items for the quality evaluation scale of specification of management for humanistic caring in outpatients was formed.After expert consultation and expert argumentation,a quality evaluation scale of specification of management for humanistic caring in outpatients was constructed.From January to February 2024,243 hospital managers from 5 hospitals in Zhengzhou were selected as survey subjects to conduct item analysis,and reliability and validity testing on the scale.Results:Two rounds of expert inquiry and two rounds of expert argumentation were conducted,with questionnaire response rates of 92.00%and 100.00%,respectively,and expert authority coefficients of 0.952.In the second round of the expert inquiry scale,the mean importance score of the first-level indicators was 4.80 to 5.00,the full score ratio was 88.00%to 100.00%,the coefficient of variation was 0.04 to 0.17,and Kendall's coefficient of concordance was 0.857(P＜0.001);the mean importance score of the second-level indicators was 4.60 to 5.00,the full score ratio was 80.00%to 100.00%,the coefficient of variation was 0.00 to 0.21,and Kendall's coefficient of concordance was 0.775(P＜0.001);the mean importance score of the third-level indicators was 4.60 to 5.00,the full score ratio was 76.00%to 100.00%,the coefficient of variation was 0.00 to 0.21,and Kendall's coefficient of concordance was 0.830(P＜0.001).Finally,a quality evaluation scale of specification of management for humanistic caring in outpatients was formed,including 5 first-level indicators,25 second-level indicators,and 58 third-level indicators.Exploratory factor analysis produced 5 common factors with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 74.628%.The Pearson correlation coefficients between the five-factor scores ranged from 0.648 to 0.798,and the correlation coefficients between the factor scores and the total score of the scale ranged from 0.784 to 0.938.The scale-level content validity index(S-CVI)of the scale was 0.945,the item-content validity index(I-CVI)was 0.725 to 1.000,the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the total scale was 0.973,and the retest reliability coefficient was 0.934.Conclusion:The constructed quality evaluation scale of specification of management for humanistic caring in outpatients has good scientific validity and reliability,and can be used as an evaluation tool for specification of management for humanistic caring in outpatients.

Objective To investigate the rate of germline variants in patients with pancreatic cancer and clinical characteristics related with germline variants.Methods A total of 271 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were enrolled in this study.Germline variants of 21 tumor susceptibility genes were detected by next-generation sequencing,and the relationship between germline variants and clinical factors such as age of onset,family history and personal history was analyzed.Results The rate of germline P/LP variants was 6.3%in unselected pancreatic cancer patients,but was high as 17.1%in genetic high-risk group patients(those with a family or personal history of cancer,or early-onset).Genes with higher frequency of germline variants in pancreatic cancer patients were PALB2,BRCA2,and ATM.Conclusion The rate of germline variants in overall pancreatic cancer patients is not high,but it increases significantly in genetic high-risk group,proving the importance of clinical factors in the screening of hereditary pancreatic cancer.

Objective:To identify the relationship between the CT arterial radiomics score and the treatment response to neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer.Methods:The clinical data of 243 pancreatic cancer patients who received surgical resection after neo-adjuvant therapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University from March 2017 to March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Based on the tumor regression grade (TRG), the patients were divided into good response group (TRG 0-1, n=30) and non-good response group (TRG 2-3, n=213). The clinical, radiological and pathological features were compared between two groups. Fully-automated segmentation tool was used for segmenting the arterial CT scan of pancreatic tumor before and after treatment. Python package was applied to extract the radiomics features of tumors after segmentation and the extracted features were reduced and chosen using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) logistic regression algorithm. Lasso logistic regression formula was applied to calculate the arterial radiomics score. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between arterial radiomics score and treatment response to neoadjucant therapy. Receiver operating-characteristics (ROC) curve was drawn and area under curve (AUC), specificity, sensitivity and accuracy for evaluating the treatment response were calculated. The clinical usefulness of arterial radiomics score for diagnosing the response of neoadjuvant treatment for pancreatic cancer were determined by decision curve analysis (DCA) . Results:A total of 330 arterial radiomics CT features were obtained, and 9-selected arterial phase features associated with treatment response were determined after being reduced by the Lasso logistic regression algorithm. Univariate analysis showed that the arterial radiomics score, three-dimensional diameter after neoadjuvant therapy, pancreatic contour, T stage, N stage, Peri-pancreatic nerve invasion, lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI) and invasion of duodenum were all associated with treatment response (all P value <0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analyses confirmed that arterial radiomics score was obviously associated with the neoadjuvant treatment response ( P<0.001). At the cut-off value of 1.93, AUC of the arterial radiomics score for diagnosing neoadjuvant treatment response was 0.92, and the specificity, sensitivity and accuracy was 86.7%, 84.5% and 84.8%. DCA demonstrated that when the percentage for predicting the treatment response by using the arterial radiomics score was >0.2, the patients could benefit from the application of arterial radiomics score for evaluating neoadjuvant therapy response. Conclusions:The arterial radiomics score was strongly correlated with the neoadjuvant treatment response of pancreatic cancer, and can accurately predict neoadjuant treatment efficacy.

AIM: To observe the effect of RBC preservation solution with sodium pyruvate on the morphology, structure and function of RBC stored in vitro in type 2 diabetes rats. METHODS: Thirty SPF male SD rats, were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=10): non-T2DM conventional RBC preservation solution (group A), T2DM conventional RBC preservation solution (group B) and T2DM sodium pyruvate RBC preservation solution (group C). The leukoreduced RBC from the tail vein and stored for 0 d (T0), 7 d (T1), 14 d (T2), 21 d (T3) and 28 d (T4) to detect the morphology, structure and the contents of 2, 3-DPG, reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and lactic acid (LA) of RBC in group A, B and C. The RBC stored for 14 days in vitro were labeled with PKH26, and its survival rate were tested in vivo at 1, 4, 10 and 16 hours after intravenous infusion. RESULTS: At T0, the RBC morphology of group A was intact, which was better than that of group B and group C. With the extension of storage time, the morphology of RBC in each group gradually transformed into a spindle-spherical shape. Compared with group A, the incidence of acanthocytes in group B and group C was higher, and the incidence of acanthocytes in group C was lower than that in group B. Compared with group A, the content of 2, 3-DPG in group B and group C decreased, while ROS and MDA increased at different time points (P<0.05). The content of 2,3-DPG in group C was higher than that in group B (P<0.05), and the contents of ROS and MDA were lower than those in group B (P<0.05). LA content in group B was higher than that in group A and group C (P<0.05). At T2-T4, the LA content in group C was lower than that in group A (P<0.05). The survival rate of RBC in group A was higher than that in group B and C, and the survival rate of RBC in group B was lower than that in group C (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Sodium pyruvate added RBC preservation solution has a certain protective effect on RBC stored in vitro in type 2 diabetic rats, and its mechanism may be related to its antioxidant effect.